Hours before citizens and the city council on Feb. 12 weighed in against what was widely perceived as a proposal by the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce to relocate the upcoming 2024 New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival from downtown Laconia to The Weirs, Paul Fitzgerald applied for the festival’s tradename.
On the same day, Fitzgerald also filed applications with the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Office for the tradenames “Laconia Pumpkin Festival,” “Lakes Region Pumpkin Festival” and “Weirs Beach Pumpkin Festival.”
All the tradenames remain in effect for five years.
An attorney, Fitzgerald is a partner at Laconia-based Westcott Law who served two terms as Laconia mayor and is also co-founder of the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association. He was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday.
In addition to filing the four Pumpkin Festival-related tradename applications on Feb. 12, Fitzgerald was among a number of citizens and business owners who spoke at that evening’s city council meeting against what in some circles was seen as the chamber’s plan to move the festival, which since 2015 has been held downtown, to The Weirs.
Earlier on Feb, 12, the chamber, in a letter to the city council, explained it was expanding the Pumpkin Festival for 2024 but that the downtown area would remain part of the larger event.
In a Feb. 13 letter to chamber President Karmen Gifford, however, Laconia City Manager Kirk Beattie was clear that, as the city saw it, what was happening is that the heart of the Festival was headed out of downtown and the mayor and entire city council unanimously thought it was not a good idea.
On Wednesday, Gifford, in a telephone interview, said “We’re not abandoning the downtown,” later adding that “it’s the same event, it’s expanding and it’s growing” to now include The Weirs, both on Lakeside Avenue and surrounding streets and possibly at Funspot on U.S. Route 3, too.
Gifford said Fitzgerald acquiring the Pumpkin Festival trade names was inconsequential because the chamber has trademarked the New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival. According to the chamber’s legal counsel, the chamber, by virtue of using the name unchanged for five consecutive years, owns the trademark, said Gifford.
The trademark bears the motto “New Hampshire/Pumpkin Festival/Laconia NH/USA” and features jack-o-lanterns on a brown and orange background.
She said the chamber knew Fitzgerald got the tradename for the festival and three possible variants, and “It’s not a big concern for us.”
“The tradename doesn’t really have an impact on us. He (Fitzgerald) was told by our attorneys that we run the festival as the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce. We run it under it under a trademark not a tradename,” said Gifford.
She said she was frustrated that the chamber’s message about what was really happening with the 2024 festival was not getting out or was being misconstrued.
The Feb. 12 letter, details of which had been previously provided to the city council, never said anything about moving it wholesale out of the downtown, she said, but did note extensively that “We are expanding the festival.”Appearances aside, Gifford said there was “no issue with the city, none whatsoever” about the festival, adding she has worked well with municipal departments.
State Rep. Charlie St. Clair, who helped bring what was the then known as the Keene Pumpkin Festival to Laconia, said it was a good thing that Fitzgerald secured the Festival tradenames, thereby preventing their being misused.
“I’ve known Paul all my life,” said St. Clair. ”He’s an honorable man and he’s always had the interests of the City of Laconia first.” Asked whether he could accept a Pumpkin Festival in any other part of Laconia, St. Clair replied “I want it in downtown Laconia. Period. That’s where it’s supposed to be.”
Mayor Andrew Hosmer said Wednesday that he agrees with St. Clair and Fitzgerald that the Pumpkin Festival’s home was and is downtown.
“It’s the city’s perspective,” Hosmer continued, that the Pumpkin Festival is owned by the city and, under a pact with the chamber, it is managed by the chamber, but the pact, “was never intended to transfer ownership of the event, or of the tradename to the chamber.”
